


Brother Where Art Thou

by WinchesterWarrenSon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe, Domestic Violence, Episode: s02e20 What Is and What Should Never Be, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-26
Updated: 2013-08-26
Packaged: 2017-12-24 17:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/942428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinchesterWarrenSon/pseuds/WinchesterWarrenSon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam Winchester is engaged to Jessica Moore and is on his way to becoming one hell of a lawyer. He hasn't seen or spoken to his big brother, Dean, since he dropped out of high school to help their father with his garage. He didn't even see Dean at John's funeral. Now his mother suddenly calls and tells him he has to come back to Kansas, that it's an emergency. Sam wishes he didn't have to see Dean under these circumstances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brother Where Art Thou

Sam Winchester hadn't spoken to his big brother in a long time. Years, in fact. Dean just seemed like he dropped off the face of the Earth after he dropped out of high school to help their father with his garage, to become a mechanic. Dean felt like they couldn't just let Dad out to dry, that someone had to look after him after their parents' divorce. Sam hadn't seen the point; Dad let his drinking get out of control, Dad was the one who cheated on Mom and had a kid with another woman, Dad was the one who fucked up. But Dean insisted, and Sam hadn't seen him since they last argued about it. 

Dad died of liver cancer a few years after that, and Sam hadn't seen him at the funeral. No one had heard from him or knew where he was. Sam had to comfort their mother by himself and had to awkwardly interact with Kate and Adam Milligan, Dad's second family. 

Sam was angry at Dean, but he honestly didn't know what he expected. Dean was just like Dad. He shouldn't expect anything different. 

He never expected Mom to call in one day in the middle of the night in tears. 

"Sam - Sam you have to come back to Lawrence - oh, Sam, it's terrible - !" 

"Mom? What happened?"

Jess blinked awake, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "What is it?"

"Sam - it's Dean. Dean is - Dean is badly hurt in the hospital. The - the police called me to t-tell me - !" 

Sam's eyes widened. "The police? Why the police?" Sam was already getting up out of bed and grabbing clothes to put on. 

"Someone's hurt Dean really badly. I don't know any details except that - that they're worried Dean won't wake up." 

Sam had never hated his brother. He always would love his brother, even when he was angry with him. So the news made Sam's blood run cold. 

"I'll be there as soon as I can, Mom. It'll be okay."

When Sam got there, though, he wasn't all that sure it would be. 

Dean was hooked up to a lot of machines, and he was bruised badly and had broken bones. Sam could see bruises in the shape of a hand around Dean's throat, and it made him sick to his stomach. 

The doctors had given Mary a full report on what the damage was. Sam took many notes of it and asked for copies of the paperwork; when he found out who it was, he was going to make sure a lawsuit put the asshole behind bars. 

Dean did wake up, but the trauma to his brain was still bad. He was disoriented and didn't seem to understand where it was he was or recognize that the doctors weren't there to hurt him. Sam and Mary weren't allowed in the room when Dean fought against the doctors, but Sam could hear Dean pleading with them as they injected the sedative to calm him down. 

"Please please no, Alastair, please - !" 

He'd then fall asleep, but Sam wasn't going to forget that name. 

When they had to leave the hospital because visiting hours were over, Sam did as much research as he could on who "Alastair" could possibly be. He could only find one match that was at all likely to be the one who hurt Dean. Alastair Pits. Alastair being a name change from when he turned eighteen. Sam paled as he read that he was a well-known gang leader responsible for many dismemberings, non-consensual body modifications, murders, rapes, and extreme cases of brain washing. He was essentially in charge of a non-governmental, anarchist collective of horrible, horrible people who wanted to dismantle the current government. Sam had heard of the organization before, but he had never thought it would actually cross into his life - let alone his brother's. 

He didn't know why Dean had been targeted, but now he was really worried. 

Dean wouldn't talk to the police or Mom or the doctors about what happened to him. The police threatened to charge him with obstructing justice, but he just kept his silence. Sam and Mary stayed by his side as much as they could. 

Sam swallowed hard, not knowing what to do or say exactly. 

"Dean?" 

Dean looked over at Sam, still sporting a hell of a black eye. The bruises on his neck were fading, but he had a tortured look in his eyes that Sam hated seeing there. 

Sam took a deep breath. 

"Is there anything I can do?"

They were suddenly much younger, and Sam had seen his brother at his most vulnerable when Dad yelled at him after he caught him with his first boyfriend. No son of mine is going to be a faggot and all that fucking nonsense. 

Dean seemed to think about it for a moment. Then he slowly opened his mouth. 

"Do you know if they brought anyone in with me?" 

Sam shook his head. 

"Can you find out?" 

"I think so. What's their name?"

Dean swallowed hard. 

"Alastair Pits.... The last I saw of him, someone shot him in the head." 

Sam's eyes widened. 

"Uh.... Yeah, I can find out for you." 

Sam couldn't find any records of Alastair Pits being in the hospital. He told the police what Dean had said, though. The police took note of it and asked if Sam could get any other information out of Dean. Sam said he would give it a shot, but Sam honestly was more concerned with getting Dean to be better. 

A few days later, the news announced that Alastair Pits was found dead, buried in a shallow grave. Some dogs had sniffed him out and dug up his grave. His body was partly eaten by the time police came onto the scene. Cause of death was determined to be not a bullet to the head, but repeated bludgeoning of the skull with a blunt machete. There was a bullet lodged in his brain, but doctors determined that Alastair would have still been able to move around and fight back despite the bullet for at least a few hours. 

Sam didn't understand why Dean started crying when he heard the news, but he didn't push. Mary gently reached out to comfort her son, even though she understood just as little as Dean did. 

Eventually, Dean was let out of the hospital. Mary insisted that Dean stay with her, and Dean had no complaints. Sam would have to go back to San Francisco soon, but he chose to stay a while longer, just to make sure that Dean adjusted to living with Mom again all right. 

As time wore on, Sam occasionally received calls from Mary, and sometimes Dean, and Sam would get updates on what had happened. On what put Dean in the hospital. 

Dean would let things slip or purposefully come out to Mary about what had happened. 

Before Dad died, Dean had gotten involved with Alastair, not realizing he was in a gang and not realizing the gang was super bad news. By the time he was even aware, Dean felt like he couldn't break up with Alastair. At the time, it felt like he was in love, but really he was just scared of what Alastair would do and what would happen to Dean if he left him. Compared to the levels of abuse that Dean would suffer at Alastair's hand, the domestic abuse he suffered at the time seemed like nothing at all. But Dean put up with it. 

When John had died, Alastair hadn't let him go to the funeral. Dean had genuinely been afraid that Alastair was going to kill him, so he promised that he wouldn't go. 

Alastair slowly but surely cut off most of Dean's ties to people he used to know, and Dean grew more and more dependent on Alastair, despite the abuse. The more Sam heard, the more he realized that the bastard had not only been abusing his brother but attempting to manipulate and brainwash him. 

But someone had killed Alastair. Why, though? What had happened exactly? Was it Alastair who had beat Dean up? Or was it the person who killed Alastair? Dean still wouldn't talk about that. 

Sam came with Jess when Thanksgiving came around. Dean was still living with Mary; Dean wouldn't tell Sam, but apparently Dean had been living with Alastair and he didn't feel comfortable yet with the idea of owning his own place. It hurt Sam's heart to hear; it used to be Dean couldn't wait for freedom. His own car, his own place, a family of his own.... Now it seemed to scare him. 

Sam and Jess weren't the only guests at Thanksgiving, however. 

Sam's eyebrows flew up when he saw a man he had never met before. 

"You must be Sam. Pleasure to meet you. Dean talks a lot about you," the man said in a Southern accent. 

"Nice to meet you. Uh...?"

"Benny. Benny Lafitte."

"Ah." 

Sam looked at Dean, and Dean blushed some. 

"Benny's my new boyfriend," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. 

Sam kept a smile on his face, but he wasn't sure what to think about it. Mary hadn't mentioned Benny at all, and Dean certainly hadn't. 

However, it turned out that Benny and Dean had only been dating for a little while and that Dean had invited Benny over because Benny didn't have any family to spend it with. Sam was relieved to hear that it wasn't some kind of announcement that Dean was already getting into a serious relationship. 

Benny sounded different from Alastair or guys like Alastair, though. He liked to cook, owned a small chain of restaurants that served Creole food, and had served in the navy for a while. He had a daughter, but had been divorced for quite some time and had only recently started dating again. Sam didn't ask how old the daughter was; Benny was kind of older than Dean by a lot, and the less Sam knew about the actual age difference the better. Benny was fluent in Creole French (not so good at formal French) and enjoyed boating as a hobby. 

Benny seemed likeable enough, but Sam wasn't sure just how good it was for Dean to be in a relationship so soon after Alastair. But Sam kept his silence for a while. 

It was several more months before Dean called Sam for the first time in a long while. 

"Dean?"

"Hey Sam...." There was dead air on Dean's end, though Sam could hear him breathing. 

"Is something wrong?" 

He could hear Dean swallow. 

"Benny . . . Benny's going on a long trip...."

"Oh?" Sam wasn't sure what this meant. 

"And . . . and he told me why....." 

Sam waited. 

A sad, humorless laugh escaped Dean. 

"I'm dating a hitman, Sammy. I'm dating the hitman that killed Alastair." 

Sam's eyes widened and his eyebrows flew up, and he honestly wasn't sure he had a stomach anymore. 

"What?"

Dean laughed again, but it was clear he didn't find it funny at all. 

"He's a fucking hitman, I can't fucking - !" 

"Are you okay? Do you want me to be there with you?"

"No, no." 

Sam waited for Dean to say more. 

"Goddamn it.... Sammy, I'm in love with a hitman, what do I _do_?" 

Sam wished he had an answer for him. Law school taught him what he should tell Dean to stay out of trouble legally, not what to do in situations like this. 

"Law school recommends breaking up with him and finding a boyfriend at, I dunno, church or something." 

Dean laughed, and it sounded a bit more genuine. 

"I _should_ do that.... I _should_ run the fuck away...."

Sam frowned. "But you're not going to." 

He could hear Dean breathing on the other end. 

"Dean, do you feel like he's going to hurt you?"

"No. He's not like Alastair. Really. I just . . . ." 

"Are you sure? I don't want anyone to hurt you again." 

"I'm sure." 

"Okay. Just . . . if anyone asks you anything about it, pretend like you don't know. Just fake it for the rest of your life. That's the best legal advice I can give you. It'll keep you out of trouble if anyone finds out, okay?"

"Okay."

"And tell me if anything bad happens, all right?"

"I will."

"Promise me, Dean."

"I promise, Sammy. Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For being my little brother."

Sam smiled a little. 

"Don't mention it."


End file.
